FormerLine

Producing with print-on-demand to optimize costs and being fast on the market: these are the challenges of digital book production. The FormerLine system from manroland web systems (Booth 3143) is the industrial-strength solution to these challenges. Both inline production and offline finishing of preprinted reels is possible. Together with the VBC collator, the system generates stacked signatures of up to 6,000 auxiliary-glued book blocks up to 100 mm thick, per hour.

In Augsburg, Germany, the FormerLine system displayed its flexibility in offline finishing with a sample book and magazine production. The products varied in format, folding sample, and collection structure and were placed on a pre-manufactured reel for mixed production. 38 signatures, 8 pages each, were collected for the "Innovations" technical book with 304 pages (bleed size 240 mm x 190 mm; double parallel folding sample), 100 books were produced one after another. Then, production was switched to a 42-page specialist magazine in a matter of minutes without manual intervention on the folder or cutter. Consisting of 7 signatures, 6 pages each, the print run included 300 magazines (bleed size 230 mm x 334 mm; accordion folding sample), which were delivered as auxiliary-glued books blocks.